Introduction: Young Innovators @ Google is a blog series highlighting the great work of Googlers who, not too long ago, were students like you. In their short careers, these engineers and product managers have made a big impact on Google. This week we sat down with Tova Wiener Nadler, a software engineer who graduated from Harvard University in 2010 after completing a bachelor’s degree in applied math and computer science and a master’s degree in computer science.

Tell us about your path to Google and your current role.

Tova Wiener Nadler: I came to Google through the college recruiting program and joined as a software engineer in the fall of 2010, after a long, relaxing post-college summer. While in college, I was a bit wary of working as an engineer. I envisioned more long nights of hair-yanking coding, which was why I decided to do an internship in quantitative finance instead of engineering. That summer, I realized that my favorite part of my job was coding, and that if I was going to code, I wanted to code in an environment built around engineering. Furthermore, I realized that if I wanted to work at a software company, Google was the one for me. Fortunately, I have found my job to be the perfect balance of pressure and relaxation!

Why were you interested in being a Software Engineer?

TWN: I was interested in being a software engineer because I really enjoyed the computer science classes I took in college and found that as time went on, I would actually eagerly await the next assignment. I could focus on a piece of code for longer than I could focus on anything else! I found that I really enjoy the creative design of producing software and that it feels great to watch your products come to life.

What was your first project at Google, and what impact did it have?

TWN: My first project was to inline the image thumbnails for books mode: when the browser is given an image, it can either be given the URL where that image is stored, or it can be given the actual bytes that comprise the image. While the first method is simpler, the second method saves the browser HTTP requests while loading, and decreases page load latency. This technology was already in use for other search modes, so my project was to figure out how they did it, and replicate for books mode. This change was totally invisible, but your book search results pages have loaded just a bit faster ever since.

How has your role evolved since then?

TWN: My role has evolved in two important ways: I have been given more autonomy with respect to what I implement, and how I implement it; and I have been able to work on and launch client facing features.

One project that I spent a lot of time on that launched this summer is an upgrade to the images that are displayed on relevant web search queries. Our project displays multiple rows of images, packed in an aesthetically pleasing manner, for queries where the user probably wants to see images. We have also added “hovers” - when a person mouses over one of the images, a larger version of the image with more information about the image appears. I was primarily responsible for adding the hover functionality and worked with my team on many of the other details.

In what ways have you been able to innovate at Google? What makes working at Google unique for you?

TWN: Although I have definitely been given room to innovate, what makes working at Google unique for me, especially as a fresh graduate, is the access to tremendous amounts of information about how the world’s best search engine works. I love the ability to code surf, exploring how different parts of the system work and learning how other people have solved complicated problems.

On the innovation front, the Google attitude seems to be, “If you build it, and it’s awesome, launch it!” This means that you get a lot of freedom and resources to explore your idea, but that you are responsible for demonstrating to those around you, and those not around you, that it truly is awesome.

What do you like most about your job? Are there personal rewards from the work you do?

TWN: I enjoy setting goals and making incremental progress towards achieving those goals. The mentorship at Google is great and it is a very goal-oriented culture.

Overall, how do you feel about your time here at Google, and what do you see yourself doing next?

TWN: I have really enjoyed my time at Google. My coworkers are great - the culture is very collegial and people are always striving to build the best products that they can. The emphasis on learning new skills has really eased my transition from student to professional life, as I feel that my education is continuing. I hope to stay at Google for the foreseeable future, and would like to continue to take on bigger projects and to take on more leadership roles.

What advice do you have for young people who are considering this career?

TWN: The advice I have is

Learn how to work well with partners on your class assignments.

Take classes that have a lot of coding assignments because that is how you will really develop your skills.

Become familiar with the C++, Python and Java.

Learn how to teach yourself: find a random piece of code somewhere and figure out how it works!

How does a person progress in your field? And how has Google helped with that progression?

TWN: In order to progress you need to take on more responsibility and leadership in the projects you work on. At Google, the progression is natural and you are given more responsibility when you have proven you can handle it. If you can build up your skills and knowledge base there will be people all over the company asking for your advice. Here, it’s not about who has been here longer and if they have more experience than you: at any stage you can take ownership of things you’ve done and help others.

Any fun google stories to share?

TWN:When I first started work in the Cambridge office my team went on an off-site to a smithy. We were equipped with aprons, goggles and sound blocking earmuffs and spent the day hammering pieces of metal into hooks. We all had a lot of fun and came home with some very impressive wrought-iron hooks.

Introduction: We are relaunching the Googlers Beta series, which brings you the unique stories and experiences of Google interns. Though most interns spend their time working at Google offices over the summer, these interns are putting in their time during the fall and winter seasons. Our first post comes from Ludmila Lima, an online sales intern in our São Paulo office. During her non-Google hours, she is a senior at Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro.

Tell us about yourself.Ludmila Lima: I'm 24 years old and I'm from Rio but moved to São Paulo for the internship at Google. I'm half Brazilian, half Mexican and I lived in Virginia (U.S.) for four years during middle and high school. I've also spent a couple of months in Saudi Arabia and Guatemala. After living in the U.S., I went back to Rio and finished high school at the American School of Rio. In 2009, I got my bachelor's in Journalism from PUC-Rio and now I'm after my second one in Advertising, which I'll finish this December.

Tell us about your path to Google.LL: I was working at a telecom company in Brazil in the Press Relations and Sustainability team. I found out about the position at Google on a recruiter website and decided to apply. Before coming here, I had heard a lot of stories about Google and how it feels to work here and everything felt pretty exciting. I had a couple of interviews, both over the phone and in person. It was a long process, but it definitely paid off in the end!

Describe your project. Who do you work/collaborate with?LL: I'm currently working in DCS (Dedicated Client Services), with the Key and Scale Accounts teams. The Key Accounts Team is responsible for the biggest accounts in DCS while the Scale Accounts team works with hundreds of smaller companies. My project is to take an overall look of the Scale Accounts portfolio and identify the highest potential clients. Once I've done that, I prepare a pitch presentation with the client's market highlights, consumer and competitors analysis and suggestions for the client's account, upselling Google products according to the client's needs. Besides that, I'm also working on other smaller projects like writing account plans for the Key Accounts clients, weekly news clipping for both pods, creating goals for the incoming accounts, etc.

What’s your favorite part about interning at Google?LL: The office environment. Everyone is very welcoming and nice to work with. People here are very hard working as well, and one can always learn something new everyday. The fact that everyone enjoys being here really makes it stand out as a company.

What does a typical day look like for you?LL: As soon as I arrive, I go for breakfast and then start working. Since I'm in two different teams, I alternate between them. Sometimes I also have trainings that can be from sales products to time management, for example. Once a week, I meet with my mentor for a chat, feedback and progress report. I'm usually working on my projects, but something new often pops up, which makes it very dynamic.

Any fun or interesting stories to share?LL: One of the most entertaining days in the office was Rock in Rio Day, when the office held a costume contest to win tickets to the Rock in Rio festival. People came dressed up like rock legends and the best dressed people won tickets.

Introduction: This is the second post in our series about current residents in Google’s Internal Technology Residency Program. Today, we highlight Victor Escobedo, who joined the ITR Program in August of 2010.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where did you go to school? What did you study?Victor Escobedo: I was born and raised in Southern California and attended Cal State Fullerton where I studied and earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science. Throughout college I worked full-time at an engineering company as a systems administrator as well as taking on personal projects in web design and IT deployments. After graduating, I joined Google through the Internal Technology Residency Program (ITRP) in August of 2010 and have loved every second of it.

How did you find out about the ITR Program?VE: Unlike many of my colleagues who found out about the Program through Google sponsored college events, I happened to stumble across the ITR Program while I was job hunting after graduation. I had always been impressed with the principles that Google seemed to exude, as well as stories I heard about the work environment. I figured that if there were any large enterprise in which I could happily work, it would have to be Google. I decided to apply and, to my delight, was invited to begin the interview process.

On rotation in the beautiful Swiss Alps

Tell us about the office rotation component of the ITR Program.VE: I honestly believe that the office rotation component of this Program is the greatest component of any program at Google; with all the great programs offered here, that’s saying a lot. ITRP has a built-in component that requires you (as if you wouldn’t want to go) to spend a quarter outside of the Mountain View office in one of Google’s many global offices. For a three month period, I had the opportunity to experience the role of a field tech working out of the Zurich office. Not only was this my first time living outside of the U.S., but it was also my first time in Switzerland. From the first day to the last, the local team was amazing; they went out of their way to make me feel right at home by taking me around the city and showing me all the best sights, as well as teaching me an enormous amount of what it takes to offer great support at Google. In my spare time, I hiked the Swiss Alps, had steak on a sword (yeah you read that right) and had some of the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted; overall, I had a once in a lifetime experience as a result of ITRP.

What have you enjoyed most about the ITR Program?VE: It’s incredibly difficult to pinpoint a single component that I have enjoyed most about the Program (the people, the projects, etc.), but if I had to choose one, it would be the travel opportunities. In the short time that I have been here, I have been lucky enough to visit and work out of the Mountain View, New York, Madrid and Zurich offices (yes, all of them were amazing). While in these offices, I met and worked with people who were incredibly talented, and I learned first-hand what it meant to support and work for a company with a truly global presence. While in Europe, I had the opportunity to support offices oceans away while at the same time collaborating with teammates who were still back in Mountain View.

In addition to the international opportunities, I’ve learned that this company fosters an environment which encourages people to try and fail. Instead of squashing ideas, you are encouraged to challenge the status quo and can make changes that can affect thousands; it’s unlike anything I’ve heard of in any large organization. The fact that this company is so large and yet I constantly feel that I am working for a startup—granted, one with with massive resources—is a testament to the unique nature and culture in which Google operates.

Did I mention that the team is pretty crazy?

What surprised you most about the ITR Program?VE: From the beginning, I was surprised at how everyone inside the organization is so willing to share. No, I don’t mean I get to use everyone’s toys, I mean sharing knowledge. Most other IT organizations I have encountered have a common problem, which I have dubbed as the “that guy” problem. It’s when there is one person who has been on the team for so long that he is the only one that knows how anything works and has become “that guy” with all the answers. The problem is that “that guy” usually doesn’t like to share his knowledge because he feels that it’s a type of job security. At Google, and within ITRP especially, we take the exact opposite approach: We over share information so that no matter who is available at any given time, there’s a good chance he or she will have the skills and information needed to solve any problem. It’s liberating, and allows us to provide a level of support that I think is unrivaled by any organization of our size.

Got any good technical tips?VE: Well to answer that I first want to pose some questions of my own: How much sensitive information do you store in your Gmail account? Do you have bank information, credit card numbers, passwords, your social security number in some message from years ago? Have you ever thought about how much personal and sensitive information you store in your email? If you feel at all worried about the idea of a hacker having access to your Gmail and all the information that goes along with it, I highly recommend that you configure 2-Factor Verification for your account. What this does is add a second layer of security to your account. When you visit Gmail.com, you are presented with the normal username and password screen that you know and love, but once you get passed that, you are asked for a special 6 digit number. This number is a pseudo random number that is generated for you and either sent to your phone via SMS or accessed from the Google Authenticator app on your phone. This adds a mere few seconds to your login process but it makes it impossible for anyone else to access your account even if they somehow managed to get your username and password. Be proactive about security!

Quick post this holiday week. I wanted to share a few things that I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend, which I hope you’re thankful for, too.

First and foremost, I’m thankful for anyone out there reading this blog series. The feedback and comments have been great and I really hope we’ve helped some of you folks out there looking for a new role.

I’m also thankful for the Google University Programs team who coordinate this blog and all of our activities on campus. These guys are rock stars. I’m lucky to work with them and love the innovation and energy that comes from the team.

Finally, I’m thankful for all the cool technology that keeps us connected and lets me interact with people all over the planet.

Introduction: We continue with our Better Know an Office series, inspired by Stephen Colbert’s Better Know a District. This recurring series will take us to different Google offices around the globe. Today, we head to Brazil in South America where we learn about our Belo Horizonte office.

Google’s Belo Horizonte is the only engineering office in Latin America. Belo Horizonte (or “Beagá” as it’s more familiarly known from the sound of its initials “BH” in Portuguese) has a population of 2.4 million and is considered to be one of the cities with the best quality of life in Latin America. The city itself was built on a hilly area and is completely surrounded by mountains. (Conference rooms in the office are each named after these mountains, including Ouro Branco, Moeda, Caparaó, and Mantiqueira.) There are waterfalls and parks minutes from downtown, such as Mangabeiras. Belo Horizonte means “beautiful horizon” and many react to seeing city postcards with “Que Belo Horizonte” or “What a beautiful horizon”.

As typical of Google offices worldwide, the Belo Horizonte office has a lively and fun environment. Googlers can play table tennis, foosball and relax in the massage room. There is also a popular video game console in the middle of the lunch area where the competition heats up daily. (It’s known that Googlers have to dodge the players to get the lunch area’s trash cans!) Googlers also participate in weekly soccer, volleyball games, climbing and running. Of course you’ll find hints of Brazilian culture throughout the office, from the interior decorating to the food. Chefs cook up Feijoada on Fridays and every Tuesday there is Pão de queijo, a local speciality.

Of course Belo Horizonte Googlers spend plenty of time on hard work. The engineering teams work on projects related to Information Retrieval, Social Networking, Ads and Geo-related technologies.

Ralf Botchen, a software engineer on the Social Networking Engineering team, spoke with us about why he enjoys working on this area. “The most interesting thing working in the social area is the fast pace in creating and developing new stuff,” he says. “At Google you can constantly learn new technologies, implement new features for the platform and see how they impact in practice, being used by millions of users worldwide.”

This year, Google Brazil won the top spot for Great Place to Work for IT and Telecom Companies, among 90 finalists in Brazil. These awards are a result of more than five years of effort, building a strong culture and an outstanding team in one of Google's fastest growing markets in the world. They represent external recognition for what we already know: our culture, our strength, our innovation, our Googlers.

Learn more about opportunities in Google's Belo Horizonte office here.

Introduction: We've been featuring weekly Recruiter Tips & Tricks from Lead Engineering Recruiter Jeff Moore. We hope you've found his tips useful, whether you're looking for an internship, full-time position, or just looking to improve your resume. Today Jeff gives us his insight into the world of benefits.

This week we are going to talk about something really important: benefits. Companies offer a wide variety of benefits packages and they can really be a deciding factor when you are trying to decide on an offer. Here are a few things to consider when looking at employee benefits:

Health Benefits - Health and wellness benefits are a critical component of any offer. Some companies offer multiple plans (HMO, PPO, HSA, etc.) and usually pick up a majority of the cost. You need to consider what type of plan works best for you and what it will cost you. Take time to read the details, there a lot of nuances to these plans and you’ll want to understand everything as well as you can to make the right decision.

Retirement Plans - Planning for retirement might seem like a boring topic, but it’s something that you should be thinking about as soon as you get your first offer. You need to consider not only the type of retirement plan (402B, 401K or maybe a pension) but also what the organization contributes to your account, in addition to your own contribution. Once you’ve figured out the plan, determine how much you can afford to contribute. My advice is to stretch a bit and contribute as much as you can to your retirement. Short term sacrifice for long term gain.

Paid Time Off - Everyone loves vacation. Vacation time, holidays and sick days are all things to consider as paid time off. Almost every organization does this differently so make sure you ask. Every plan has its pros and cons so I can’t offer much specific advice as it totally depends on the organization. Ideally, you’re looking for 2-3 weeks of vacation, standard holidays and a handful of sick days. More, of course, is better. Note: generally these plans are non-negotiable so recruiters don’t have flexibility to customize your package.

Perks - Companies offer so many different perks nowadays it’s hard to compare; however, what you really want to see is that the company values their employees. I’ve seen perks like fresh cookies on Fridays, free breakfast, lunch, dinner, subsidized massage, acupuncture, movie tickets and even company cars. Generally, I think of perks as a bonus on top of the rest of the total package, and a way for you to help make the final decision.

That’s it this week! Don’t overlook the benefits package on those offers, the right benefits can make or break an offer and provide you with everything you need to start your career on the right foot.

The application portal for the 2012 Google RISE (Roots in Science and Engineering) Awards is now open! Google RISE Awards are designed to promote and support education initiatives in two key areas: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) and Computer Science (CS). Once a year, we grant awards to organizations working with K-12 and university students in these fields across the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Here are a few exciting changes for the 2012 awards:

In order to make a larger impact on STEM and CS, award amounts in the US and Canada have increased and will range from $10,000 - $25,000 USD to fund larger, innovative programs.

For the first time ever, RISE awards will be offered to organizations in Canada and Africa. We’re quite excited about this expansion and look forward to the applications that come from these regions.

We made a few changes to our website. Check out www.google.com/edu/rise to see what’s new and submit an application.

Technology will continue to play an important role in shaping our future, and the youth of today will invent and drive these technologies for years to come. Through the Google RISE Awards, we hope to help all students take one step closer to achieving great things in STEM and CS.

Show us what you can do to get students excited about STEM and CS! Submit your application before November 30th, 2011. Awardees will be announced in January 2012.

How do Googlers like to use their hard earned vacation time? Some people like sitting on a warm, sunny beach. Others crave adventures that might include an earthquake, snow storms, flash floods, avalanches and mudslides. This past September, four Googlers took the trip of a lifetime to Everest Base Camp. We sat down with technical program managers on the privacy team Dan Fredinburg and Andrew Swerdlow, people programs manager Sara Pelosi, and compensation analyst Sam Gilbert to find out more.

Andrew, Sara, Dan, trekking friend Mike, and Sam at the start of the trek in Lukla

What is the trek like?Sara Pelosi: The trek took us 12 days. The highest altitude we went to was over 18,000 feet, higher than anywhere in the contiguous US. We hiked over 70 miles, and it took us over 50 hours. We stayed at tea houses the whole time so we had beds to sleep in and indoor toilets.

Why did you go?Andrew Swerdlow: I’ve always dreamed of seeing the Himalayas. One night when I was younger I saw a shooting star, and I made a wish that someday I would climb Mt. Everest. Fourteen years later I saw another shooting star that looked very much like the one I saw as a boy. I knew at that moment what I needed to do. I ran back to my hotel and started booking flights to Nepal and assembling a crew of adventurers for an Everest expedition.

Sunrise on Kala Patthar

Sam Gilbert: This was a trip I had always been dreaming of going on with my dad. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to come with me. I felt like if one of us was able to do it, it was like both of us did. When I finally made it to Base Camp, it was the best feeling in the world. It was an amazing experience.

SP: I’m a pretty adventurous person. I had thought about doing this trip before but had never had a chance. When Andrew asked me if I wanted to go, I thought it would be a lot of fun, and I jumped on the opportunity.

Dan Fredinburg: I had never climbed a mountain before so thought the best place to start would be Mount Everest.

What training did you do to prepare?SP: We didn’t actually do much training specifically for the trek. Most of us have done some sort of endurance training before. Andrew and I have done triathlons, and Sam has done a marathon. The hiking wasn’t the difficult part. The tougher part was dealing with the altitude.

Writings on the stone monument at Everest Base Camp

What were some of the challenges you faced on your trip?SP: The second night of our hike there was a 6.8 earthquake. It was scary when we realized we were in a developing country that doesn’t have the infrastructure or emergency services in place to respond to earthquakes like California does. We were fortunate that there was very little damage where we were.

SG: I had problems with altitude sickness for most of the trip. Most days I would eat a chocolate bar and that was about it since my stomach was bothering me. It was very unpleasant. Altitude sickness isn’t something that you can prepare for or predict.

What did you learn on your trek?SG: The journey was very difficult, but you learn about how far you are willing to push yourself and when you hit that limit, you keep going.

AS: I felt like I learned a lot about myself on the trip. I learned about how my mind works, how I perceive people around me, and my own personal limits. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It’s mostly mental and less physical.

DF: I learned that I really want to climb higher, and so I plan to continue doing that.

A glimpse of the peak of Everest

Do any of you want to go back and summit?DF: Yes. I would definitely like to do that. I thought Everest Base Camp was a very fun and liberating experience. I’d like to have more of that and think the right decision is to continue going higher. To train, I’m planning to summit Aconcagua [the highest peak in South America] in December. After that, we can discuss summiting Everest.

On a Saturday in early November, part of Google’s NYC office in Chelsea was transformed into a hacking metropolis. Thirty-six female students from the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, New York University, Columbia, Rutgers and SUNY Stony Brook came together for the very first Hack212: Urban Innovation, a 12-hour, NYC-focused, female-friendly hack event sponsored in partnership by Google and the City of New York. The event was aimed at female computer science students of all levels and hoped to highlight the many ways in which computer science and programming skills can be used to tackle social and community issues right here in New York City.

Hack212’s challenge, which was presented by a senior advisor from the City of New York’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, was to find a technological solution to the parking problem in New York City. As anyone who has every tried to park a car in NYC knows, it can be very difficult, time consuming, and sometimes even dangerous. We wanted to ask our participants: Is it possible to create a technological solution for parking in NYC that could (a) determine when and where there are available parking spots, (b) combine that information with other data (such as parking rules and regulations), and (c) convey this information to the driver in a way that is meaningful, safe and happens in real-time?

Armed with laptops, real sample parking data from the city, and loads of food, the women set out to see if they could improve the quality of life for millions of New York City drivers and visitors. Cas Halloway, New York’s Deputy Mayor for Operations, was also on hand to offer some inspiration to the hackers. During a lunchtime Q&A session, Cas conveyed New York City’s commitment to not only growing the tech industry locally, but to also implementing solutions such as the ones being explored at this event to solve some of the very real and very complex problems.

By the end of the 12 hours, each team presented their solution, along with working demos and mock-ups of what a future app might look like. Both the students and the Google engineers who helped judge the contest were impressed with the final product. “I was most impressed with the fearlessness and creativity of the participants, and how much they learned over the course of the day,” commented Greg Russell, a software engineer in Google’s NYC office who acted as a judge. “It was a lot of fun, and a great way to learn about interesting ways to solve problems,” said UPenn student Trisha Kothari. “I liked that the focus of the hackathon was very well-defined. This let us explore one topic really well, rather than an extremely broad and vague ‘build what you feel like’ hackathon.”

“There are a lot of stereotypes out there about what a computer science student looks like, and what it means to be a software engineer,” explains Allison Roarty, a member of the university programs team at Google. “Historically, we see a lot of talented female CS students deciding to switch majors out of computer science because they don’t see a place for themselves within that stereotype. We want to show those women that there are lots of different ways to be a computer scientist and to use the skills you get from a degree in CS.”

Here at Google, we love getting to see what people create, and that's why we've launched our second Google Model Your Town Competition, open to people from all over the world.

Students have shown us in past competitions what they're capable of, and this time you can compete with the world community-at-large for a chance to help your town's local school district, and become a local hero.

By creating a 3D portrait of your community and sharing it with the world, you have the power to get your town on the map – and there's no bigger map than Google Earth. Show the planet what's special about your town by creating 3D models of the buildings in your community using either Google SketchUp or Google Building Maker and submit your entry by March 1, 2012. You can model as many structures as you like – which types of buildings you choose to include is entirely up to you. The important thing is that your choices say something about the character and history of your town.

Here's some inspiration by way of the 2010 winner, Jorge De Albertis, from Lima, Peru (just to get your creative juices flowing):

We can't wait to see what you create. Here's how to get started.Posted by Allyson McDuffie, Google Geo EDU Team

Google+ is only a few months old, but the photography community is already thriving on it. Take a look at the profiles of Scott Jarvie, Thomas Hawk, Colby Brown or Claire Grigaut to see just a few of the inspiring photographers on Google+. More than 3.4 billion photos have been uploaded to the platform in the first 100 days.

We’re really excited about this, and think great art deserves great exposure. So we’re teaming up with Saatchi Gallery, London for the Google Photography Prize, a chance for students around the world to showcase their photos on Google+ and have their work exhibited at a major art institution.

The contest is open to university students around the world (some exceptions apply, see google.com/photographyprize for more details). From far-away places to up-close faces, there are 10 different categories to spark your imagination. And there are some great prizes to be won: 10 finalists chosen by a jury of renowned photographers will show their work at Saatchi Gallery, London for two months in 2012 alongside Out of Focus, a major photography exhibition, and win a trip to London to attend the exhibition opening event with a friend. One winner will go on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to an amazing destination with a professional photography coach.

It’s easy to enter: After you pick a category, upload your photos to Google+ and share them with the world as a public post, then visit the submission form on google.com/photographyprize by January 31, 2012 to enter.

Saatchi Gallery, London will share updates on their Google+ page for the contest, so add it to your circles if you want to see the great work that’s being submitted.

Introduction: Lead Engineering Recruiter Jeff Moore is back at it again in this week's Recruiter Tips & Tricks post. Today he talks about what you should consider when deciding between multiple offers. For more information on internship, full-time and other opportunities at Google, add the Google Students page to your circles on Google+.

You’ve been out there dominating the interview circuit, companies love you and you’ve got your pick of multiple offers. Awesome, nice job. The question now, really, is which one of these offers do you take?

There are so many factors involved in this decision, some of which you might not have thought about. In no particular order, here’s what you need to consider.

The team - The single most important thing in your first job or any job is the team. You will be working with these people at least 40 hours a week so you have to like them. Also, you want to work with great, smart and talented people. If the team doesn’t wow you, don’t take the job. If you think it’s a superstar team, you’re likely to really be happy with the decision.

The opportunity - Jobs are about opportunities. Opportunities to grow, learn, manage, lead and a host of other things. When considering multiple offers you have to weigh your options and consider which one will present you with the best opportunities. Now, what the “best” opportunities are will depend on your priorities and what you hope to make of your career so now is the time to make sure you have that figured out!

The location - Do you like to be near your family? Friends? Near the ocean? Location is absolutely critical in deciding what role to take. What you do when you are NOT at work is important. You should be happy in the office and then even happier when you are not at work. You want to make sure that whatever offer you accept is in a place where you can be happy and have a really healthy work/life balance.

The money - Ok, so I lied about doing these in no particular order. The money is important, but not nearly as important as the things I’ve mentioned above. Think about it. Would you rather make $75K and be happy or make $80K and be miserable? In my opinion, you can’t put a price on your happiness. Now, that being said, you do have to consider the total compensation as all offers are not created equally. Some offers will have a bonus included, equity, stock purchase programs, free food, great benefits, etc. All of these represent compensation and need to be part of your decision making process; however, don’t be lulled into thinking that compensation is the end all, be all of your decision—it’s not.

That’s it this week; hopefully you are not struggling too much with these decisions. By now, you should have figured out what you are looking for in a job and be able to evaluate every offer against the factors you’ve deemed important. If you’ve got questions or concerns about any of your offers make sure to ask your recruiter or the hiring manager for some help. The more informed you are about each offer, the better decision you’ll make. Good luck and if I can help, post a comment and I’ll try to offer advice.

Introduction: Over the next couple of months we’ll be sharing stories from current residents in Google’s Internal Technology Residency Program. Today, we start with Marcos Ramirez, who joined the ITR Program in August of 2010.

What is the IT Residency Program?Marcos Ramirez: The ITRP is a 2-year program that gives new grads the opportunity to learn all about how Google does IT. The program itself is broken down into a few different areas: Training and Development, Front-Line Support, and Internal Rotation. With Training and Development, all IT Residents are essentially transformed into top-notch IT generalists—obtaining proficiency in many different areas ranging from networking, mobile support, programming, and many different operating system platforms.

We get a lot of these skills through front-line support, by helping many of the other Googlers who come into the Techstops—places at Google where IT support is provided—with their technical problems. If all that wasn’t fantastic enough, IT Residents also get to go on office rotations to other Google offices around the world, as well as spend a quarter with another team at Google (where you’ll get the chance to learn all about an area you’re interested in specializing in).

How did you get to where you are today?MR: I've always had a passion for the more social aspect of information technology, and project management in general, which is what attracted me to the Management Information Systems (MIS) program at San Jose State University (SJSU). The MIS program there provided a good combination of business, technology, and project management related courses, and overall really helped me define what path I wanted to take with my career. Outside of school, I did a few small internships, and then a one-year co-op at IBM during my senior year.

I found out about the ITRP when Google held an ITRP information session at SJSU, where I met Cameron, who was one of the PMs who helped create the program. I was really impressed with the presentation and the program, so I applied for the ITRP through Google's Student Jobs webpage. Now that I'm actually here, I can honestly say that IT at Google is truly a unique experience, which I don't think I'd be able to find anywhere else. It's really given me the opportunity to take what I've learned and apply it on such an incredible scale.

What have you enjoyed most about the ITRP program?MR: I've really enjoyed the sense of camaraderie between everyone on the team. We are all here sharing this experience together, working in the Techstops and on many different projects, and overall there's just this sense of mutual trust. It's a great thing to know that you can depend on your team. I also love the fact that we have the opportunity to learn about so many different aspects of technology, from Linux, Mac, and Chrome OS environments, to networking, Python and technical project management.

One of the projects I've been working on recently involves deploying Google Apps to non-profit organizations, which has been an incredible experience in itself. Along with a few other IT Residents, I'm going out and delivering Google Apps trainings to nonprofits, and helping them make the switch over to using Gmail, Docs, and the rest of the Google Apps suite. We get to see first-hand how technology can improve the collaboration, communication, and overall efficiency of an organization.

Tell us about the Ops Rotation part of the ITRP program? Explain what that means and how you've experienced it firsthand.MR: The Ops Rotation is a 3-month internal rotation with another group at Google—the idea is that, as an IT Resident, you've spent the first several months solving problems in the Techstops, and hopefully gotten an idea of your specific areas of interest. The Ops Rotation is an incredible opportunity to take what you've learned (as well as what you're interested in learning), and jump into an entirely different team within Google. For my Ops rotation, I joined the Support Engineering team as a Technical Project Manager. In this role, I had the responsibility of transferring several high-level software projects between different teams, as well as doing some development work supporting their tools in on-call rotations. It was a great experience, and it really increased my technical project management skills, and knowledge of how software development works at Google.

Good to Know contains a plethora of information on how to keep yourself safe on the web, with topics covering Google’s security tools, down-to-earth explanations of those tough security terms, and a bunch of other great tips on how to manage your data.

Over 80 Googlers will be in Portland this week and will be involved in several panels, sessions, and events at this conference dedicated to women in technology. Check out the schedule for more details on where we’ll be and when! We will also be hosting a luncheon to congratulate the Google Anita Borg scholars, Google Grace Hopper travel scholarship recipients, and other Google scholars from this past year who will be in attendance. And, as tradition holds, we will be hosting the Sponsor Night party (co-sponsored with Microsoft) on Friday for a night of music and dancing!

Make sure to stop by the Google booth to find out about opportunities at Google and meet some awesome GWEs (Google Women Engineers). You may even find a few surprises there so keep checking back!

To find out more about what Google is up to at Grace Hopper, you can follow the hashtags #GoogleAtGHC and #GHC11 on Google+ and Twitter. You’ll also find relevant posts from the Google Students page (launched today!) as well as posts from Googlers who are attending the conference. You can also request to be added to our “GHC 2011” circle by sharing a post and including the hashtag #GoogleAtGHC.

Today the Google+ team announced Google+ Pages, where you can interact and engage with businesses, brands or products on Google+. These pages will allow you to build connections with everything you find in the real world, whether it be your school’s career center or the university’s ACM chapter.With today’s Google+ Pages announcement, you can now find Google Students on Google+. On our page, you’ll find student-specific information about Google products, announcements, university outreach, relevant tips and tricks and more.We look forward to using the Google Students page to further connect with you, hear your feedback and keep you up-to-date on everything that is Google. Add us to your circles and we’ll see you on Google+!Posted by Jessica Lulovics, University Programs Specialist

Introduction: In last week's Recruiter Tips & Tricks post, Jeff Moore talked about how you can best prepare for a technical interview. This week he's focusing on tips to help you prepare for non-technical interviews. Don't forget that internships and new grad opportunities are posted on our student jobs site at www.google.com/students

As you’ve probably noticed by now, a lot of my tips are especially relevant to engineering students. Well, not this week! I wanted to take some time to help everyone else who’s going through the interview process but won’t be writing code. Truthfully, these tips are pretty universal and will help you in any interview, technical or not. These may seem pretty simple but they absolutely, positively work.

Research - Take time to do your homework and thoroughly research the role before your interview. You want to have a solid understanding of what the business is and how this role fits into the business. If applicable, do a quick search to find out the background of the people you’ll be meeting. I can’t stress this last point enough. Knowing your audience will potentially give you a shared interest or experience with the interviewer and make both of you more comfortable.

Resume prep and review - Chances are, the person you are meeting with during the interview is looking at your resume. Chances also are, you wrote that thing a few weeks or months ago and don’t have as deep an understanding of every word in the resume as you think you do. So, take 15 or 20 minutes to go through your resume line by line, think about the content and make sure that if you’re asked about a particular item you have a clear and concise answer. Your resume is a paper version of experience—know what’s on that paper and be able to speak to it.

Build a list of sample questions and answers - Biggest and best tip I can give you. Hands down, this one works. Take 30 minutes or so before the interview to build a list of any possible question you might be asked during the interview. Questions on your background, behavioral based questions, role play, you name it. Write it down. Now that you’ve got this list, go through and write down a few words on what your answer will be if you are asked this question. Finally, bring these notes with you...not to read them, but so that if or when you do get asked one of these potential questions you’ll have the perfect, thoughtful answer right on the tip of your tongue. I’ve been doing this for years and find it to be the best way to be prepared for anything during the interview.

Have your questions ready - Almost every single interview you’ll have will end with the same question: “Do you have any questions for me?” The worst answer is something like,“um, no.” When an interviewer asks you if you have any questions for him or her, this is your time to shine. You want to show off how much you understand the role and ask a question that give you additional insight into how you’d fit into the team. This is where tip #1 comes in. You’ve done your research on how to answer questions poised to you, now you have to jot down a few questions for each interview. These questions should be specific to each interviewer, too.

That’s it this week, I think you’ll find these tips to be pretty easy and quite useful. Take the time to implement them and they will serve you well. Being prepared and having done your research will not only enable you to answer difficult questions but will also allow you to stay on target and get across any specific points you are hoping to emphasize to the interviewer. Next week, we’ll be talking about how to negotiate and deal with job offers....so get ready, it will be a lot of fun.